Yasiel Puig’s federal criminal trial begins today in Los Angeles, where the former Major League Baseball outfielder faces two counts of making false statements to federal investigators and one count of obstruction of justice in the Central District of California.
The case stems from the federal investigations into illegal sports gambling operations run by former minor league baseball player Wayne Nix and others in California, where sports gambling is illegal at the state level. The investigation into the illegal sports gambling rings run by Nix and others ensnared Ippei Mizuhara, a Japanese-American who worked for the Los Angeles Angels and Dodgers as a translator for superstar player Shohei Ohtani. According to a press release issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Nix, who played in the Oakland Athletics’ organization from 1995 to 2001, had been running an illegal gambling operations for nearly 20 years.
Puig hasn’t played professionally in the United States since 2019, when he played 149 games for the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds. He spent the winter in Venezuela playing for the Navegantes del Magallanes of the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, where he hit .282/.340/.447 with three homers and 14 RBIs in 26 regular season games. He last appeared in the round robin playoff for the Navegantes on Jan. 16, going 0-for-3 in a 4-0 loss to the Bravos de Margarita. He has seven hits in 27 at-bats with six RBIs and two homers in nine playoff games with Magallanes before leaving to appear at his trial.
When the case against him was first filed in 2022, Puig played for the Kiwoom Heroes of South Korea’s KBO League. He’s since played winter ball for the Estrellas Orientales of LIDOM, the Tiburones de La Guaira and Navegantes del Magallanes in the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, played part of the summer of 2024 for Veracruz in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol and returned to the Kiwoom Heroes for the summer of 2025 before his summer season was cut short by a knee injury in May.
During the 2023-24 winter ball season, Puig was rumored to have drawn significant interest from several Major League Baseball clubs, but ultimately never signed a contract and has not returned to MLB. He signed with the Navegantes de Magallanes of the LVBP for the 2025-26 winter ball season, which begins on Wednesday. The regular season will run through Dec. 27, with the five-team, 16-game Round Robin playoff to follow, likely concluding before the rescheduled start of Puig’s trial.
The case finally moved to trial this year after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the contents of a plea agreement Puig had reached with federal prosecutors but later reneged on would not be admissible at trial.
Each count of making a false statement carries up to five years in prison, while the obstruction of justice charge carries up to a 10-year term of imprisonment should Puig be convicted at trial. Puig’s case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and is No. 22-cr-00394.
Photo: Former Major League Baseball outfielder Yasiel Puig of Kiwoom Heroes warms up before the opening game of the 2022 regular season for the Korea Baseball Organization between Lotte Giants and Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
